And he said, If the LORD do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress?
The reply came from the king of Israel when Samaria was shut in by the Syrian siege and worn down by a severe and prolonged famine. It was an admission that if the Lord did not bring help, help could be expected from no human quarter. The threshing floor and the wine vat named in it stand for the stores of solid food and drink that famine had emptied and made unavailable. Spoken out of that extremity, it shows a desperation that pushed the king toward desperate courses at the very time when God was about to bring the deliverance He had promised.
The reply came from the king of Israel when Samaria was shut in by the Syrian siege and worn down by a severe and prolonged famine. It was an admission that if the Lord did not bring help, help could be expected from no human quarter. The threshing floor and the wine vat named in it stand for the stores of solid food and drink that famine had emptied and made unavailable. Spoken out of that extremity, it shows a desperation that pushed the king toward desperate courses at the very time when God was about to bring the deliverance He had promised.